BREEDERS’ CUP WIN IS A BEAUTY FOR BEHOLDER

ARCADIA 
Trainer Richard Mandella was asked if somehow the Breeders’ Cup Classic blows up today, could his filly, Beholder, be Horse of the Year.

“I think you know my answer to that,” Mandella said after Beholder and jockey Gary Stevens won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff by 4¼ lengths.

Game On Dude and Wise Dan would have to lose their Breeders’ Cup races, and even then, Beholder would be a long shot for Horse of the Year. But just the fact someone asked Mandella that question says it all about his talented filly’s 2013 campaign.

Beholder, the 3-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes, became the first filly in history to win the BC Juvenile Fillies and Distaff in consecutive years. She won her fifth race this year and was second in her other two. She has eight wins from 12 starts. She topped the $3 million mark in earnings with the $1,100,000 from the Distaff.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have many good mares in my years of training, but this mare might have to be the best of all,” said Mandella, who won his eighth Breeders’ Cup race to tie fellow Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.

Owner B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm praised his trainer and the job he did getting Beholder primed for the Distaff.

“I would say Richard doesn’t have an equal in training, as a trainer or as a person,” Hughes said.

Trainer Bill Mott’s Close Hatches was second, pacesetter Authenticity was third for Todd Pletcher and two-time Distaff winner Royal Delta, the 7-5 favorite, was fourth for Mott. Pletcher’s highly regarded Princess of Sylmar, who beat Beholder in the Kentucky Oaks, was sixth and last, 13 lengths behind Beholder. The filly entered the race with four straight Grade I wins, seven wins on the year. But she didn’t have it for Beholder on this day. Jockey Javier Castellano told Pletcher the filly had trouble with the track throughout the race.

“She kind of stumbled leaving the starting gate and broke out awkwardly and kind of went down a little bit,” Pletcher said.

Just as he did with Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas to win the Preakness with Oxbow, Stevens teamed with another Hall of Famer in Mandella to win another big race to add to his incredible comeback year after being away from riding for seven years. It was his ninth BC win and first since 2000.

“I won’t say I expected to be on this stage 11 months ago,” Stevens said. “Fortunately for me, Beholder and a few other special ones have come along.”

Stevens, 50, watched as his fellow Hall of Fame buddy, Mike Smith, 48, won the first two Breeders’ Cup races on the day, the Marathon with London Bridge and the Juvenile Turf with Outstrip. But Stevens came back to win the fifth and final Breeders’ Cup, the biggest with the Distaff.

When Smith, who was aboard Palace Malice, passed Stevens in the Belmont Stakes, Stevens wished him well. There was dialogue. This time, as he passed Smith and Royal Delta, there was no such banter.

“No, it was dead silent out there, just nostrils and hoof beats going down the backstretch,” Stevens said. “This was a championship race, and he was riding the two-time defending champ. I felt like I was on them. I really did. I know we were third favorite going into it, but I felt like it was our race to lose the way she had been training and coming off her last race.”

Smith had no excuses for his ride on Royal Delta.

“She didn’t have it today,” Smith said. “No spark, man. Early on, I knew it. She usually takes the race to somebody, but not today. I thought when Beholder came up on her, she would pick it up. But she didn’t.”